Loves Price Of Freedom
by ElaineDex
Summary: When a vengeful ex member of Atlantis returns to the city what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers?
1. Chapter 1

Date : 09.09.2007

Title : Loves' Price Of Freedom

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 1 of ?

Rating : M

Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Sheppard

Major Evan Lorne/Dr Ellie Lorne

Warnings : Romance/Angst/hurt.

Spoilers : This story is part of a series and follows on from Love's Past and Present.

Feedback : Yes

Disclaimer : Dr Ellie Lorne, Major James Reece, Lt Franks and any OC's are mine. Lyssa Hunter-Sheppard belongs to Kazavid. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.

**Summary : When a vengeful ex-member of Atlantis returns to the city what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers? **

Ellie and Lorne had only been married for six short months but already Ellie was stupidly beginning to worry that Lorne was going off her.

It had all started a few weeks ago when both Lorne's and Sheppard's teams had found a small off-world village inhabited by only women. They had found it strange but on further investigation they had discovered that the men of the village had been taken by the Wraith a few months earlier.

Lorne, Sheppard, Ronon, Major Reece, Lt. Franks plus some of the other marines from Atlantis had volunteered to help re-build the women's homes for them and they had been returning to the village in their spare time to do just that.

The only thing was, Lorne had been spending more time there than was absolutely necessary….at least that was the way Ellie saw it.

As he got ready to go to the village once more with Reece, Ellie said to him,

"Do you have to go today? Wouldn't you like to spend the morning in bed with me?" and she sidled up to him wrapped in just the bed sheet and pressed herself against him.

She frowned when he gently shrugged her off so that he could bend to tie his boot laces.

"Sorry Elle but there's still a lot of work to be done at the village", he said and Ellie moved away from him and sat on the edge of the bed sulkily.

"But you've spent all of your free time there for the past three weeks…..when are you going to spend some time with me?" she asked and Lorne turned to look at her.

"Those women need our help…..do you just want me to forget that they're there so that we can spend the morning in bed?" he asked, looking at her in a way he never had before…as though she was being selfish.

"No…..I just meant…..", Ellie tried to explain but Lorne grabbed his jacket and moved toward the door.

"I'll see you later, I need to meet Major Reece", he said and then left their room leaving Ellie sat open-mouthed.

She sighed and began to get dressed quickly. If this village was so damn important to her husband then maybe she could go with him and help him somehow.

She raced to the gate room only to find she had just missed them and the gate was just shutting down.

"Damn it", she muttered.

"Hey Ellie, what's up?", Sheppard asked as he and Lyssa approached her, holding hands and Ellie was pleased to see that at least they were still in honeymoon mode.

"I wanted to go with Evan to the village but I just missed him and Reece.

"Did someone mention my name?", a deep voice from behind Ellie said and she turned to see Major Reece approaching them.

"I thought you were going to the village with Evan", Ellie said sounding confused and Reece nodded.

"I was going to but I had some stuff to do here. Hey, I'd watch him if I were you Doc, there's this real cute little red-head out there who seems to have taken quite a liking to the Major", his voice was light-hearted but it was not what Ellie wanted to hear and though she smiled Lyssa could see that something was bothering her friend.

She turned to Sheppard.

"We're not doing anything now are we? I'd like to see this village and how it's shaping up. Could we not go for a look around?"

Ellie threw her an 'I am going to love you forever' look as Sheppard rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I guess we could…..I'll just go clear it with Weir", he said.

As soon as he and Reece had moved away, Lyssa grabbed Ellie's arm.

"Okay…what's going on?", she asked warily as Ellie looked at her worriedly.

"Are you and John still, you know……?", she asked.

"Hell yeah….every day, more or less", Lyssa replied, smiling broadly and then realised that that was not the answer Ellie was looking for and she wiped the smile from her face quickly.

"I take it you and Evan aren't", she said and Ellie nodded glumly.

"Not since he started spending all his time helping at this bloody village. I was getting suspicious but now with Reece saying what he did…….do you think Evan is having an affair?", she asked.

Sheppard, who had been approaching from behind Ellie, stopped in his tracks as he heard her last words and his eyes widened as he looked at Lyssa. He did not want to get involved in a crisis that only another woman knew how to deal with and he silently indicated to Lyssa that they had the go-ahead for in ten minutes time.

Lyssa looked away from Sheppard and back to Ellie.

"Evan wouldn't do that to you Ellie….he's crazy about you. Lets just go to the village and see what's going on before you jump to any more conclusions okay?".

Ellie nodded and they went their separate ways to go and get ready.

**OOoOO**

Sheppard, Lyssa and Ellie entered the village a short while later to find it was looking all but done and Ellie frowned as she remembered Lorne saying earlier that morning that there was still lots to be done.

Had he been lying to her?

She glanced around to see if she could see anything of him but he was nowhere to be found.

Sheppard shouted to one of the village women who was planting some things in her new garden.

"Hi. We're looking for Major Lorne, have you seen him around this morning?".

The woman smiled warmly and pointed toward a house further along.

"He is with Simone", she replied and Sheppard waved in thanks.

"Simone being the red-head I presume", Ellie said through gritted teeth as they headed further along the small row of newly built homes.

Lyssa and Sheppard exchanged a glance and Sheppard sighed in relief as they saw Lorne come out of the house in question carrying a piece of wood. He had not been looking forward to having to hide Atlantis' alcohol rations if anything had gone wrong this time between Ellie and Lorne.

"We'll just be looking around", Lyssa said, guessing that her friend would want to talk to Lorne in private at first.

Ellie nodded and approached Lorne who looked up, surprised to see her.

"Hey….what're you doing here?", he said and Ellie looked at him closely as she tried to assess whether he was pleased that she had shown up or not.

"I came with Lyssa and Sheppard. Lyssa wanted to see the village and I wondered if I could help in any way", she said and Lorne nodded.

"I'm just building a wardrobe for Simone", he said and as if on cue, the petite red-head who was extremely pretty, much to Ellie's annoyance, appeared on the doorstep of the house.

"Can I get you a drink Evan?", she called out and then said, "Oh…hello", as she spotted Ellie.

"You must be one of the women from Atlantis", she guessed and Ellie smiled as she replied,

"One of them, yes" and she turned to Lorne as he said,

"This is Ellie, Ellie this is Simone".

Ellie glared at Lorne because he hadn't introduced her as his wife and she became even more agitated when Simone came over and placed a hand on Lorne's arm and it became obvious that Simone was in fact pregnant.

"Evan has been so good to me over the last couple of weeks, I really don't know how I would have coped without him", she said, smoothing a hand over her small bump and Ellie had to force herself to remain calm and just smile as Lorne came over all bashful and laughed at Simone's praise.

"Oh, where are my manners….would you like a drink too Ellie?", Simone said and Ellie nodded just to get rid of the other woman for a moment.

When she was out of earshot she said,

"No wonder you've been so eager to get back here all the time. She's very pretty".

"I hadn't noticed", Lorne replied as he measured out the piece of wood and Ellie laughed.

"Yeah right, of course you hadn't. Did you also 'not' notice that she is pregnant?".

"What are you getting at Ellie?", Lorne asked feeling annoyed.

He had wanted to finish off this wardrobe today so that he could start to spend less time at the village because he had in fact realised that he had been neglecting Ellie a bit, but now that she had shown up it had just slowed down his progress.

"Are you sleeping with her because you certainly haven't been interested in me lately?", Ellie blurted and Lorne looked at her, shock on his face and he replied,

"I can't believe you just said that, especially as you said, she is pregnant".

"Well you seem to have forgotten what you said to me on our wedding night, the bit about never getting tired of me. We haven't made love for two weeks now Evan….and pregnant women can still have sex….", Ellie trailed off as Lorne turned his back on her.

"I am not having this conversation with you Ellie…..I can't believe that you think I would do that".

"What am I supposed to think? Every time I've tried to get close to you lately you've pushed me away so that you can race here to help out 'Simone'", she answered hotly but Lorne kept his back to her as he said,

"Well you can think what you damn well like but I wouldn't sleep with another woman and any further discussion can wait until we get back to Atlantis".

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?", Ellie asked, watching as he bent to pick up the piece of wood again.

"Stay out of my way", he replied and then disappeared inside the house.

Ellie turned away from the house and tried to take a calming breath but she was mad.

Mad at herself and mad at Lorne. She hated herself for handling things the way she had but Lorne hadn't been talking to her much lately and as she had said to him, what was she supposed to think.

She knew deep down that even though he hadn't said anything he had expected her to have been pregnant again by now and she was now worrying that he was getting close to Simone because she needed a father for her baby and he desperately wanted to have a baby of his own.

Simone's husband being taken by the Wraith had opened up a window of opportunity there for Lorne if that's what he was looking for, that was.

She glanced around, looking for Sheppard and Lyssa but there was no sign of them. She spotted a wooded area and sighed deeply. She wondered whether she should go and have a look at some of the scenery. It would pass the time until Lorne was ready to leave.

She stomped off toward the trees and Ellie being Ellie became immediately engrossed and didn't realise how far into the trees she had wandered until a noise in some undergrowth nearby made her look up.

Her heart began to beat a little faster as the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand up and she knew instinctively that whatever was making the twigs snap and the leaves move was not going to be friendly.

Her mouth opened but no sound came out as a Wraith stepped into view, his gleaming eyes staring at her and Ellie froze as he began to walk toward her.

In what felt like slow motion, her hand went to her ear only for her to remember that she wasn't wearing her ear-piece with this not actually being an off-world mission and that was when the panic set in.

She stood quickly and reached for her hand gun, which thankfully Sheppard had insisted they all take with them and she pointed it at the Wraith who was almost upon her.

She fired off two shots in quick succession but they didn't even phase the Wraith and he continued toward her.

Ellie took off at a run, changing direction when three other Wraiths emerged from the surrounding trees.

**OOoOO**

Lorne's head shot up as he heard the gun fire coming from the general direction of the wooded area that was to one side of the houses and he glanced over to where Simone was stood watching him work.

"Stay here", he told her as he raced down the stairs and out of the house.

He noticed immediately that there was no sign of Ellie and his pulse quickened as Sheppard and Lyssa came running out of a house further along without her.

"Colonel?", he said, reaching for his gun as he Sheppard and Lyssa raced toward the trees.

"I heard it", Sheppard replied, also readying his firearm.

"Where's Ellie?", Lyssa asked as they ran and Lorne glanced at her anxiously.

"I thought she was with you", he said and they all quickened their pace as another couple of shots rang out up ahead of them.

Lorne wanted to call out for Ellie but he knew better and instead they split up three ways to check out whatever was going on.

**OOoOO**

Ellie was trying to lead the four Wraiths away from the newly re-built village. The last thing those women needed was another Wraith attack, but in doing so she was dooming herself to an inevitable fate.

She tried to fire off some more shots but one Wraith had caught her up and he knocked the weapon from her hand.

Ellie screamed as she tried to run faster but it was no use and the Wraith reached out and grasped her hair in his slimy hand, wrenching her head backwards and forcing another strangled cry from her throat.

He spun her to face him and Ellie fought against his hold as he grinned at her and tried to place his hand against her chest.

"Nooo!", she said, trying to twist her body but he held her fast and finally managed to connect his palm against the smooth skin of her chest in the centre below her collar bones.

Ellie immediately began to feel woozy and she sagged against the Wraith as the enzyme that readied a victim for feeding coursed through her veins.

She was aware of gun fire erupting all around them and suddenly the Wraith released his grip on her and they both fell to the floor.

Lorne's heart all but stopped as Ellie collapsed onto the floor. The sight of the Wraith about to feed upon her had almost sent him over the edge and as Sheppard and Lyssa saw to the other three Wraiths he raced toward her crumpled form.

"Ellie!", he shouted as he ran over to her and knelt at her side.

He pulled her into his arms but she remained limp and lifeless at first.

"Ellie? Sweetheart?", he said, his voice urgent as he smoothed her hair back from her face.

Ellie groaned and blinked her eyes as she opened them and looked up at Lorne's worried expression.

That same expression quickly turned to anger when he realised that she was okay.

"What the hell were you doing wandering out here on your own?", he asked her as he helped her up.

"I……ah……you told me to stay out of your….ooh……way", she said, wobbling unsteadily against him as the enzyme slowly left her system.

Lorne gripped her elbow and shook his head as Lyssa and Sheppard walked over to them.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not wander off on your own but you still do it…….Ellie you could have been killed", he all but shouted at her and Ellie's eyes filled with tears as she looked at him.

"I'm………sorry……don't yell at me", she sniffed and Lorne sighed as Sheppard said,

"You okay Ellie?".

Ellie nodded and pulled her arm from Lorne's grip.

She was still a little unsteady on her feet but at that moment she preferred to lean upon Lyssa than on her angry husband.

"She needs to go to the infirmary, are you coming or do you want us to take her back?", Sheppard asked and Lorne ran a hand over his eyes.

"I'll come back with you now Sir but we could do with checking out the area, make sure there are no more Wraith about".

"I'll send a team back", Sheppard agreed and they headed toward the gate, Lorne stopping off to tell Simone that he had to go back to Atlantis.

End of Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

Date : 11.09.2007

Title : Loves' Vengeful Reunion

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 2 of ?

Rating : M

Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Sheppard

Major Evan Lorne/Dr Ellie Lorne

Warnings : Romance/Angst/hurt.

Spoilers : This story is part of a series and follows on from Love's Past and Present.

Feedback : Yes

Disclaimer : Dr Ellie Lorne, Major James Reece, Lt Franks and any OC's are mine. Lyssa Hunter-Sheppard belongs to Kazavid. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.

**Summary : When a vengeful ex-member of Atlantis returns to the city, what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers?**

Lorne hovered at the end of the infirmary bed as Dr Beckett checked Ellie out.

When he finally gave her the all-clear they began to walk back to their room in silence and Ellie could almost cut the tension between them with a knife.

"Are you going to talk to me?", she asked him as they entered the level changer and Lorne folded his arms as he said,

"No".

"Evan?!", she said incredulously but he looked at her and said,

"Save your breath Ellie".

They exited the level changer and walked onto the corridor where their room was and Ellie, despite her better judgement, tried again.

"Won't you just let me explain….", she began but Lorne cut her off.

"After everything we've been through I can't believe that you would accuse me of sleeping with another woman, a pregnant woman at that too and just six months into our marriage".

He opened the door to their quarters and strode inside and Ellie followed him wondering what the hell she could do to make this right.

"I…..it's just that….well….we normally make love all the time and then we just stopped and you didn't seem to want to anymore……if I'd been like that with you wouldn't you have been a little bit suspicious?", she asked him and Lorne rounded on her, making her jump as he said harshly,

"I think I'd have tried talking to you first before I went ahead and accused you of sleeping with someone else".

Ellie bit her lip as they stared at one another and just when she wondered what to say next, Lorne pushed a hand into her hair and anchored her mouth to his in an angry kiss.

His free hand pulled her roughly against him and Ellie felt liquid desire pool low in her belly as he pressed his groin against her.

He wrenched his mouth from hers and pulled on her hair so that her head went back and he bit at her neck non-too gently.

Ellie moaned as he said angrily,

"Is this what you want?" and he turned her and pushed her down onto the bed, his hands going to the button and zipper on his combats and he freed himself before pushing her backwards again as she went to sit up.

"Evan!", she said, her voice sounding shocked at the way he was acting and she gasped as he pushed her skirt up around her hips, his fingers pushing her underwear to one side as he moved in between her legs.

"I _said_ is this what you want?", he grated, his lips against her ear and Ellie could only nod and whimper as she felt the tip of him pushing at her entrance.

As he thrust into her he pushed his hands under her buttocks and pulled her up tightly against his body as he buried himself to the hilt and Ellie cried out and gripped at his upper arms for support as all coherent thought fled from her mind.

Lorne briefly wondered if she was alright with this. He could never hurt her and he wasn't certain if her cry had been caused by pleasure or pain and he pulled back a little so that he could see her face.

It was flushed and her eyes were round as she stared back up at him, her mouth open slightly but she didn't look in pain or discomfort so he pulled out a little and then pushed back in, watching as Ellie's eyes fluttered closed and she made a soft mewling noise in the back of her throat which confirmed for him that she was fine.

Satisfied that she wasn't objecting to anything he began to pound in and out of her and it wasn't long before they both came, gasping for breath and clinging to one another as they came back to reality with a bump.

Lorne was the first to move and he pulled away from her and re-did his combats, not looking at Ellie's face as she sat up, her shapely legs on show and he had to drag his eyes away from them as he headed for the door.

"Evan?", she said, her voice sounding wobbly and he paused, his back to her as he said,

"What is it?".

"I……I love you", Ellie said sounding almost uncertain about telling him and Lorne's hands clenched by his sides as he considered not answering her at all.

Eventually he sighed and said, "I love you too Ellie, but you already know that because I've told you a thousand times, yet you still think I could cheat on you. I think you need to learn to trust me more... Look we can't talk about this now, we'll talk later, when I get back".

"Where are you going?", Ellie asked, her voice quiet and he replied,

"I'm going back to the village to finish off what I started this morning. I'll see you later", and with that he opened the doors and left.

On his way back to the gate room he considered going back and sorting everything out with Ellie. He didn't like things being at odds between them but her accusing him of doing what Heather had done to him had annoyed him a great deal. He couldn't do that to her, she meant too much to him and plus he knew how it felt first hand and he could never put anyone through that.

Instead though his feet continued to take him away from Ellie and toward Simone.

A move he would soon live to regret.

**OOoOO**

Ellie had just showered and changed her clothes when a knock came on her doors.

She opened them to find McKay stood there and he forced a an over-bright smile to his lips as he thrust a lap top into her arms.

"Colonel Caldwell has just informed me that the Daedalus needs a few repairs but I have to leave with Sheppard and the others now so could you take a look? I will of course check things over myself as soon as I get back", he said and Ellie glared at him before she glanced over the repairs needed report on the screen in front of her.

"Hasn't the Daedalus only just returned from earth?", she asked as she stepped out onto the corridor and walked along with him.

"Yes. I would do it myself but Dr Weir has just decided to send us off on this wild goose chase for a ZPM which I know full well will not be on the planet we're going to", Rodney replied and Ellie nodded.

"It's okay Rodney. I'm kinda at a loose end anyway", she said and Rodney regarded her for a moment before seemingly deciding not to ask what was going on with her.

They parted company and Ellie headed for the lab first to collect some things she'd need and then she went to the jumper bays where she could get beamed aboard the Daedalus.

She had a quick briefing with Caldwell before she was left alone with the skeleton crew aboard the Daedalus.

She made her way to the first damaged section of the ship and began to remove the wall panelling, her thoughts turning to Lorne as she worked.

He had never made love to her like that before. It had been almost as though he had been completely detached from her emotionally and it had been 'just sex'.

Her better judgement fought against her runaway thoughts as she began to imagine that he didn't feel the same way about her any more, that maybe because she hadn't given him another baby yet he wanted to be with someone who could.

Shaking her head she put the first panel to one side and mentally shook herself, telling herself to stop being so stupid. Lorne loved her. Everyone argued from time to time, look when Lyssa had accused Sheppard of cheating on her with Carly, her brother's friend……..mind you, Lyssa had found them in bed together so that was different….

"Stop it!", she muttered to herself harshly.

She reached into her tool box and rummaged around as she searched distractedly for her spanner, frowning when she couldn't feel it and was forced to turn around.

Her body froze as she saw someone she never thought she would have to lay eyes upon again crouched to her right, waving her spanner at her casually as he said,

"Hey Doc. Looking for this?"

The resounding slapping noise that followed Ellie's hand connecting with Lieutenant Tyler's face surprised them both and Tyler rubbed at his cheek as he and Ellie stared at one another.

"I suppose I deserved that for leaving you with Jones' men", he admitted and she glared at him.

"Damn right you did", she said and Tyler nodded.

"I take it Major Lorne got you out before anything too bad happened?"

Ellie nodded and said "What the hell are you doing here Tyler?", and she noticed disconcertedly that he wasn't actually in uniform.

He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt with a thigh length leather jacket over the top. He was still as broodingly good-looking as ever with his cropped dark hair and designer-type stubble covering his face.

"You know that if Colonel Sheppard or Lorne sees you they won't let you get away through the 'correct channels' this time", Ellie said and Tyler nodded.

"I came back for Lyssa", he said and Ellie frowned.

"How did you get onto this ship? You can't seriously be telling me that this is all above board, you getting back here I mean".

"You're the only one who knows that I am here….so far", he replied, not giving anything away and Ellie rolled her eyes.

"Great….lucky me. I am not having a good day", she informed him and Tyler regarded her before asking,

"How is Lyssa?".

"All the better for not having you around", Ellie replied and quickly found herself with her spanner pressed against her throat and she gulped and Tyler said,

"Don't piss me off Doc. We'll get along fine just so long as you just do what I want and tell me everything that I need to know".

Ellie nodded and Tyler slowly eased the spanner away from her throat.

"So….are you still with the Major?" he asked her and Ellie got the distinct impression that if he hadn't been slightly un-hinged before he'd been sent back to earth, he most definitely was now.

The way his moods swung from angry to normal in seconds was proof enough and Ellie realised she would have to play things carefully.

"Yes, we got married six months ago", she replied to his question and she held out her hand to show him her wedding ring.

"That's nice…..I'm pleased for you. Is Lyssa still with Sheppard?", Tyler replied and Ellie wondered what would be the best response under the circumstances.

Should she tell Tyler that Lyssa had married Sheppard and risk him flying off the handle and doing something stupid or should she tell him that her friend had broken up with Sheppard because they hadn't been happy?

As she pondered the dilemma, Tyler regarded her and waited……

**OOoOO**

Back at the village Lorne worked hard on getting the wardrobe done quickly.

He glanced up as Simone entered the room.

"Can I get you something to eat?", she asked him but Lorne shook his head.

"No, thank you. I need to be on my way back to Atlantis shortly and I want to get this finished for you".

"You're very kind", Simone said moving closer to him and Lorne straightened to look at her.

The way she was looking at him left him suddenly in no doubt that she liked him and that if he were to try anything now she would not object and he wondered why he had never noticed that before.

"Major…….", Simone said, running her hands up his arms but Lorne took them in his and held them away from him.

"Simone, I'm sorry but I…….", he trailed off as Simone moved away and wrapped her arms around herself.

"It's that woman from earlier isn't it? You care for her?", she said quietly and Lorne groaned inwardly as he discovered that Simone didn't realise that Ellie was his wife.

She wouldn't….and no wonder Ellie was pissed at him, he hadn't even introduced her as his significant other.

"Ellie is my wife. I'm sorry if you thought I was here to do anything but help you out", he said and Simone shook her head.

"You are a good man Major and you need not apologise for me jumping to the wrong conclusions about how you feel about me".

"Seems there's a lot of that going around today….."

"People jumping to the wrong conclusions..", he elaborated when Simone looked at him questioningly.

For the first time though, Lorne saw how things must have looked from Ellie's point of view and he raked a hand through his short hair and sighed deeply.

It even crossed his mind that Ellie might be upset because he was spending time with a pregnant woman and in light of the fact they had lost their baby he could now see why that might hurt her feelings.

"I have to go", he said suddenly and Simone looked at him as he headed for the stairs.

"I promise that either I or one of my men will come back and finish that for you soon but I have to go and sort something out right now", he threw over his shoulder and Simone sighed and waved to him as he left her house.

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

Date : 12.09.2007

Title : Loves Price of Freedom

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 3 of ?

Rating : M

Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Sheppard

Major Evan Lorne/Dr Ellie Lorne

Warnings : Romance/Angst/hurt.

Spoilers : This story is part of a series and follows on from Love's Past and Present.

Feedback : Yes

Disclaimer : Dr Ellie Lorne, Major James Reece, Lt Franks and any OC's are mine. Lyssa Hunter-Sheppard belongs to Kazavid. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.

**Summary : When a vengeful ex-member of Atlantis returns to the city, what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers?**

**Thanks to Kazavid for her help with part of this chapter.**

"Answer my question Doc. Is Lyssa still with Sheppard?", Tyler asked again when Ellie took an inordinate amount of time to come up with a response.

"They got married a couple of weeks after Evan and I", she said eventually and then shrank back as Tyler stood and in a fit of rage began to kick at the panel to the right of her, sending sparks flying from the console.

Just then a member of the Daedalus crew appeared in the doorway.

"Is everything alright Dr Lorne?", he asked, his eyes widening as he saw Tyler.

Tyler turned and pulled a gun from under his coat and shot the man at point blank range.

Ellie cried out and stood. She went to run to the fallen crew member but Tyler stopped her.

"We need to get off of this ship…..I've left Lyssa on Atlantis for far too long already", he said gruffly.

He dragged Ellie along behind him and killed any crew that they came across and even though Ellie knew their deaths were pointless and mindless acts, she was thankful that there was only the skeleton crew on board.

They made their way to the bridge and Tyler turned to her.

"Beam us down into the unused section of the city and don't try anything. If we emerge in a populated area I'll shoot you first and then anyone else who is around".

Ellie nodded, not doubting for one second that he would do anything less.

She moved to the main console and activated the beam and as the area around them went all fuzzy and bright, Tyler grabbed her and held her back against him, just in case.

When they emerged in a darkened, disused room, Tyler grinned at her and said,

"Very good……you keep doing as you're told and things will work out alright".

Ellie sighed raggedly and thought about the poor men he had just killed. She knew that once Lorne and Sheppard found out that Tyler was here they would go all out to find him but they needed to be careful.

Tyler was not a man in control of his judgement and he would rather shoot to kill first than listen to reason, that much was obvious. He had one goal…..Lyssa……and Ellie dreaded to think what would happen if he didn't get what he wanted.

"I need you to get hold of Lorne and get him here. We need him on side", Tyler said to her and Ellie nearly laughed at the notion that Lorne would ever want to side with Tyler.

"He's not here, he's off-world at the moment", she said, then jumped as Tyler gripped her upper arms.

"Don't lie to me", he said and she shook her head.

"I'm not……he really is off-world, doing a favour for a new…….friend", she said, struggling for a word to best describe Simone.

"Damn it!", Tyler cursed letting go of Ellie and turning his back on her. He had wanted to speak with Lorne.

Surely if anyone would understand his plight it would be the Major. He had gone through the same thing when they had been taken over by the Ancient Wraiths, he had slept with Ellie without knowing what he was doing, just like Tyler had slept with Lyssa but somehow things had worked out for Lorne and Tyler wanted to know what his secret was.

How had Lorne gotten Ellie to fall for him and dump Ronon?

"Never mind", he said suddenly, turning back to face Ellie, "I'll catch up with the Major later, we'll just have to step up the plan a little in the meantime. I need you to make sure that the cities' sensors are offline for a while".

"But that won't work for long. Once McKay returns he'll be able to figure out what's happened and fix it", Ellie replied and Tyler glared at her.

"Once McKay returns? Does that mean Sheppard's team are off-world too?".

"They're checking out a lead on a ZPM", Ellie told him, smiling inwardly as Tyler cursed. His plan was not going well so far.

"Let's just start with the sensors. I want you to do something to them that will take McKay a while to sort out", he told her, grabbing her arm and moving her toward the door.

"Like what?", Ellie asked and Tyler shrugged.

"You're the scientist, I'm sure you'll think of something. It can be like a challenge for you to see if you can beat McKay and wipe that smug and annoying smile off his face", he said.

Ellie frowned as Tyler lead her away.

**OOoOO**

In the gate room, Dr Zelenka radioed Dr Weir.

"I think we have a problem with our sensors Doctor", he said just as Elizabeth appeared from her office and began to head down toward him.

"What kind of problem?", she asked and Zelenka frowned.

"They appear to be totally off-line…..we have no way of detecting anything", he said and Weir tapped her ear-piece.

"Dr Lorne we have a problem down here, could you make your way to the gate room?", she asked, her eyebrows furrowing at Zelenka when Ellie didn't respond.

"Dr Lorne?", she said again but there was still no response.

"Damn", she cursed. Why did these things always happen when Sheppard and Lorne weren't around.

She tapped her ear-piece again and said,

"Major Reece, I need you and a team to check out Dr Lorne on board the Daedalus, I can't contact her".

Reece's voice came back straight away.

"On my way ma'am".

Weir and Zelenka exchanged a look and she asked,

"Can you do anything with the sensors?".

"I'll have a look but they are really Dr McKay or Dr Lorne's department", he replied and Weir nodded.

"Just see if you can come up with anything in the meantime".

**OOoOO**

Major Reece and his team rounded the last corner as they headed for the jumper bays and stopped in their tracks as they saw Lieutenant Tyler up ahead holding Ellie back against his chest, a knife against her throat.

"If you all do exactly as I say she doesn't have to get hurt", Tyler said, "Now lay your weapons and ear-pieces on the floor in front of you".

Reece and his men exchanged a glance and he nodded for them to do as Tyler asked.

Tyler shoved Ellie forward and told her to collect the items they had laid down and when he was satisfied he snatched a P-90 from her grasp and pointed it at them all.

"Let's move", he commanded.

They had no option but to let him point them toward the abandoned part of the city where he had Ellie tie Reece and his men's hands behind their backs.

Once that was done he re-fixed Reece's ear-piece into his ear and thrust the P-90 into Ellie's side.

"Tell Weir you found Ellie and that everything is fine. You say anything different and she gets it you understand?", he said and Reece nodded, his eyes going to Ellie's as Tyler tapped the ear-piece for him.

"Dr Weir this is Reece. Dr Lorne is fine, she had a problem with her ear-piece", he said and Weir replied,

"That's good Major. Could you get her to make her way back to the gate room, we seem to have a problem with the cities' sensors……….oh, forget that, it's alright, Dr McKay is just arriving back with Colonel Sheppard so I'll get him to take a look".

"No problem ma'am", Reece replied, looking up at Tyler who pulled the ear-piece away from Reece's ear and looked at him expectantly.

"At first she wanted Ellie to go to the gate-room but Sheppard's team is just arriving back so she's going to get Mckay to have a look at some problem with the sensors", Reece filled him in.

"Good", Tyler replied moving Ellie away from the men and over to the other side of the room.

**OOoOO**

"What's wrong with them?", Sheppard asked as he and Weir hovered behind Mckay as he checked out the sensors.

"I'm not sure…..this is really strange. It's almost as if they have been manually tampered with", McKay replied, tapping furiously on one of the computer consoles and Weir folded her arms.

"Do you think you can fix it?", she asked and McKay threw her a disgruntled look.

"Of course……it just may take me a little time, that's all", he said and Weir and Sheppard exchanged a look.

Just then Sheppard's ear-piece buzzed and he frowned as Ellie said,

"John, I need your help. Can you meet me in the lab?".

"Sure", he replied about to head off when McKay said,

"I thought Ellie was on the Daedalus".

"She was but she was having trouble with her ear-piece and I had to send Major Reece up to check on her. Go see what she needs Colonel, Major Lorne is still off-world", Weir said and Sheppard nodded and disappeared.

He made his way to the lab, frowning when he found it to be in darkness.

"Ellie?", he said cautiously as he pushed the door open.

He was about to reach for his hand-gun when something hit him hard on the back of the head and everything went black.

**OOoOO**

Lyssa folded her arms and tapped her foot impatiently as she tried to contact her husband for about the hundredth time in the last hour.

McKay hadn't been much help. He had told her that Ellie had asked Sheppard to go help her in the lab but now there was no sign of either of them and neither were answering when she buzzed them.

McKay was still engrossed in trying to fix the sensors, muttering on about whatever was wrong with them was extremely difficult to figure out but Lyssa was getting very impatient.

"Look, McKay, just take two minutes out and check on your other lap top whereabouts John and Ellie are……with the trackers it won't take you long", she said and Rodney glared at her.

"If I do then will you leave me alone?", he asked and she nodded, smiling at him sweetly.

Sighing and huffing, he moved over to his other lap top and opened it, frowning as a high alert e-mail instantly popped up.

"That's not good", he said as Lyssa moved to his side.

"What isn't?", she asked beginning to get worried as she took in his expression.

"It's off Ellie", he said turning the lap top toward Lyssa whose face paled visibly as she read the three words that flashed in front of her on the screen.

It read, 'TYLER IS BACK'.

**OoOoO**

"Major Lorne", one of the security men shouted over to him as he exited the wormhole as he arrived back on Atlantis

"Something wrong?" he asked, seeing the worried look on the security guys face.

"We have a situation Sir".

"What kind of situation?", Lorne asked, looking around the gate room.

"Lorne, you're back!", Lyssa shouted over as she entered the gate room having heard the alarm that announced the activation of the Stargate. She had hoped it was Lorne.

"What's going on, where's Lt. Colonel Sheppard?" he asked her.

"That's just it, we're not sure, we think he and Ellie have been captured", Lyssa said, her voice catching slightly at the thought of what Tyler might do to him and Ellie.

"Captured! By who?" Lorne asked confused.

"Tyler", Lyssa bit out and watched as Lorne's jaw clenched at the mention of Tyler's name. She knew Lorne was remembering what Tyler had done the last time he had kidnapped Ellie.

"Where is he?", he asked harshly.

"We can't locate him, he must have had Ellie do something to the sensors. McKay is trying to find out what she's done so he can undo it" .

"So what are we doing about finding him in the meantime?" Lorne queried and Lyssa replied worriedly,

"Ronon and several security teams are searching as much as they can, but you know how big this place is, it could take them forever to find him. We also can't locate Major Reece and his team".

"We need McKay to fix the sensors", Lorne said, moving further into the gate room as he asked,

"How did he manage to get Ellie and Colonel Sheppard?"

"We're not sure how he got to Ellie but she asked John to help her with something so he went down to her lab. We are assuming that Tyler captured him there because we can't contact him..." Lyssa told him.

"So how do you know it's Tyler?", Lorne asked.

"Ellie managed to send an e-mail to McKay's computer telling him that Tyler was back".

"What's he doing back here? This is the last place I thought he'd ever want to come back to", Lorne said, his mind unable to concentrate on what needed to be done, all he could think about was Ellie and if she was alright.

End of Chapter 3


	4. Chapter 4

Date : 14.09.2007

Title : Loves' Price of Freedom

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 4 of ?

Rating : M

Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Sheppard

Major Evan Lorne/Dr Ellie Lorne

Warnings : Romance/Angst/hurt.

Spoilers : This story is part of a series and follows on from Love's Past and Present.

Feedback : Yes

Disclaimer : Dr Ellie Lorne, Major James Reece, Lt Franks and any OC's are mine. Lyssa Hunter-Sheppard belongs to Kazavid. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.

**Summary : When a vengeful ex-member of Atlantis returns to the city, what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers?**

**Thanks to Kazavid for all her help with part of this chapter.**

Sheppard opened his eyes and immediately became aware of a dull thudding sensation behind them and he groaned. He tried to raise his hands but found they were bound behind his back.

"You alright Sir?", Reece asked and Sheppard turned his head and squinted at Reece who was sat beside him on the floor.

"Just great……what the hell is going on?", he asked quietly and Reece nodded to the other side of the room.

Sheppard looked, his eyes widening as he saw Tyler, a P-90 trained on Ellie as she tapped away on one of the un-used consoles and he realised they were in a part of the city that hadn't been explored properly.

"What the…..?", he trailed off as Tyler turned and saw he was awake.

"Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard", he said, walking over slowly and Sheppard smiled grimly.

"You remember my name. I'm flattered", he said and Tyler scowled at him.

"I should. You stole my woman and now I hear you've married her…….what did you do? How did you persuade her, you bastard?", he said, giving Sheppard a hard kick in the ribs and he groaned and rolled onto his side.

Ellie moved over and bent at Sheppard's side, starting to help him up but Tyler grabbed her and thrust her down into Reece's lap.

"There….you sit nicely on your other lover's knee", he said to her and they all looked up at Tyler as they realised he really wasn't right in the head.

"I want you to explain something to me Doc", Tyler said and Ellie squirmed uncomfortably on Reece's legs and she turned back and glanced at him, mortified.

"I'm sorry", she whispered but Reece shook his head to tell her it was fine.

"Tell me why you chose Major Lorne over Major Reece here, I mean you had sex with them both, so what made Lorne the better choice?", Tyler asked.

"Tyler", Sheppard said, his tone holding a warning but he just received another kick to the ribs for his efforts and Ellie glanced worriedly at Sheppard before looking back at Tyler.

"I……….", she trailed off, wondering whether she should divulge her secret information in light of the fact that Sheppard was like Ronon's best-friend.

"Come on Doc, let's here it……I want to know", Tyler said, running his finger along the length of the P-90 and Ellie swallowed nervously.

"I liked Lorne way before the night the ancient wraiths took us over. I would never have done anything about it, being married to Ronon", she said looking quickly at Sheppard before continuing, "but after that night and what happened between us, my feelings for Lorne got stronger and then when we were sent back to earth for the presentation and I found out that he liked me too, it seemed like the natural way to go however much I hated hurting Ronon".

She finished and realised the room had gone quiet.

Tyler and Sheppard were staring at her and she could feel Reece's eyes boring into her back.

"What?", she asked and Sheppard said,

"You had a thing about Lorne whilst you were married to Ronon?", he didn't sound angry, merely intrigued.

Ellie coloured up and said,

"I couldn't help it".

"So that night had no bearing on you getting together with Lorne?", Tyler said and Sheppard sighed.

"She just told you…..she had a thing for Lorne before 'that night' so them getting together would have probably happened anyway with or without the intervention of the ancient wraiths".

"Stay out of this", Tyler said, going to kick Sheppard again but Ellie sprang up and stood in his way.

"Tyler please. I don't know what it is you're trying to get at. If you tell me maybe I can help", she said, distracting him and giving Sheppard a reprieve from another blow from Tyler's steel-toe capped boots.

"You chose Lorne and left Ronon. Why didn't that happen with Lyssa? Why did she choose him over me?", Tyler said glaring at Sheppard and Reece made the mistake of laughing.

"Jeez man, you have serious problems. Lyssa is in love with Colonel Sheppard, Ellie wasn't that much in love with Ronon obviously or she would have stayed with him. Just face it, Lyssa doesn't want you".

Tyler pushed Ellie out of the way and pointed the P-90 at Reece.

Ellie screamed as he pulled the trigger.

**OOoOO**

"What about the trackers?", Lorne asked of McKay who was still struggling to get the sensors back on line.

"I already checked those. Tyler must have had Ellie corrupt the programme that runs them because they're just not tracking correctly", McKay replied.

"But how can that be?", Weir asked and Rodney sighed loudly.

"Look…..I'll demonstrate for you", he said, spinning the lap top on the counter so that they could see the screen.

"If I ask this to track the Major, for instance, it tells me that he is……let me see…..ah yes, there we go……according to this Major you are currently in the mess hall".

"Can you not figure out what Ellie has done?", Lorne asked, a sliver of pride tingeing his tone despite the fact that right now they could really have done with Rodney being smarter than Ellie and McKay puffed his chest out and turned away.

"Of course I can……it's just taking a little longer because the systems are running so slowly at the moment", he replied haughtily and Lorne sighed and turned to Lyssa.

"We need to get out there and join the search", he told her and Lyssa agreed readily.

"Let's get geared up", he said and as they went to leave the gate room, Weir called out,

"Be careful you two…..you know what Tyler is like".

Lorne nodded briefly and then he and Lyssa went on their way.

"What do you think Tyler is up to?", Lyssa asked as they shrugged into their tack vests and loaded up with weapons and ammo.

"He'll be after you again", Lorne replied steadily and Lyssa kept her face neutral as he confirmed her fears.

"But why does he have to involve Ellie and John?", she said and Lorne sighed deeply.

"Because he is too much of a coward to go it alone".

Lyssa looked at him, her eyes as full of worry as Lorne's were as they began to discuss their plan of action.

**OOoOO**

"You son of a bitch!", Sheppard yelled as blood began to pour from Reece's chest.

Tyler looked at Reece and then Sheppard, his eyes glazed before he turned away and walked to the console and leaned against it, seemingly deep in thought.

Ellie took the opportunity to kneel at Reece's side and she gingerly touched his face.

"James?", she said, using the Major's first name.

"Major?", Sheppard said, his voice more urgent and Reece's eyes opened but his breathing was laboured.

Ellie tore at the hem of her dress and then bunched the piece of material up under Reece's T-shirt to try and help stem the blood flow and he tried to smile at her gratefully.

Just then though Tyler headed back over toward them.

He hooked a hand under Ellie's arm and pulled her up and away and toward the door.

"Where are you going Tyler?", Sheppard called out and Tyler glanced over his shoulder as he replied,

"To get what I came here for" and then he and Ellie disappeared out onto the corridor.

"Damn it", Sheppard cursed, struggling against the restraints, the coarse plastic cutting into his wrists.

**OOoOO**

Lyssa and Lorne had gone separate ways and Lyssa had caught up with Ronon and they decided to split off from the security team.

They were walking along one of the corridors, Lyssa was just ahead of Ronon. She rounded a corner and froze. Tyler had Ellie clasped to his chest and had a gun pointed at her.

Ronon saw Lyssa's reaction, so he stopped and quietly approached. He knew Tyler must be up ahead. Lyssa didn't glance at Ronon, nor did she indicate that anyone else was with her so Ronon tried to wait for an opportunity, but he hated waiting, he just wanted to grab the son of a bitch and kill him.

"Tyler, why don't you let Ellie go?" Lyssa asked calmly.

She could see Tyler staring at her, his eyes raking up and down her body appreciatively.

"Now why would I want to let her go?" he asked, clamping Ellie closer to his chest and grasping his gun tighter in his hand.

"You don't really want her, you want me. Let her go and I'll go with you", she told him.

He laughed mirthlessly.

"You think I'm that stupid…?"

"I never said you were stupid..."

Ronon was getting impatient just waiting around the corner, he kept throwing gestures at Lyssa who could see him in her peripheral vision.

Tyler, either having heard something or just taking a chance, suddenly placed the gun against Ellie's head.

"Tell Ronon to get out here or I'll put a bullet in her head", he shouted so that Ronon could hear.

"Ronon isn't here", Lyssa said, hoping he'd believe her.

"Yeah right, tell him if he doesn't come out in the next count of five, Ellie is dead", he started counting down, but before he reached one, Ronon loomed out from around the corner, his gun pointed at Tyler.

"You're not going anywhere so you might as well let Ellie go", Ronon told him.

"I'll tell you what, we'll do a straight swap, you give me Lyssa and you can have Ellie" ,Tyler said.

"Fine, let Ellie go and you can have me", Lyssa said and walked towards Tyler but he laughed and told her to stop.

"Put these on her", he said throwing over some restraints towards Ronon.

"You might think I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy".

Ronon picked the restraints up and looked at Lyssa, she put her hands together and lifted them towards him. As he went to tie the restraints around her wrists, Tyler butted in,

"Behind her back, not in front" he said.

Lyssa turned her back to Ronon and put her hands behind her.

Ronon was reluctant to do this. Tying her hands in front of her hadn't bothered him as he knew she was capable of looking after herself. But tying her hands behind her was another matter entirely.

"Ronon!" Lyssa glanced behind her.

Ronon put the restraints on her wrists, leaving them slightly loose, giving her a chance to slip her hands free.

"Alright, let Ellie go", Lyssa said as she began to walk towards Tyler.

"Stop right there" Tyler said, pointing at Lyssa. "I want Ronon out of here, I don't trust him not to try anything" he said, glaring at Ronon, who was poised and ready to pounce.

Lyssa looked at Ronon and nodded her head and it took a few seconds before Ronon finally moved down the corridor. As soon as he moved through the main doors, Tyler shot the door activation control and the doors slammed shut.

Tyler turned to look at Lyssa. He lifted his arm from Ellie and pushed her forward.

"Well go on, you can go", he told her as he kept a close watch on Lyssa, looking for any signals she might give to Ellie.

He wasn't gullible enough to think that she'd go with him willingly, he knew she'd try something.

"If you don't leave, I'm going to have to shoot one of you", Tyler told Ellie as she deliberately held back.

"Ellie, just go, I'll be fine", Lyssa said wanting Ellie away from here. She didn't want to have to worry about her when she tried to capture Tyler.

Ellie moved towards the door that was opposite to the one Ronon had gone out of, it was the only door that would take her back to the Gate room. As she got right by the door, she turned back to look at Tyler and Lyssa.

When Lyssa saw Ellie almost through the door she slowly moved towards Tyler. When she was within a few feet of him, she calmly tugged and manipulated her wrist through the restraints.

Ronon had left just enough room for her to do this and when Tyler grabbed her arm she swung out and her hand connected with his chest.

Tyler had quickly pulled his body back so he never got the full force of the hit, but it did unbalance him. He was righting his stance when Lyssa swiped her foot against his ankles, knocking him down.

He was used to sparring with Lyssa so he knew her fighting techniques very well, which gave him an advantage.

He saw her moving towards the gun he'd dropped and he tangled his feet around her ankles causing her to fall. As she crashed to the ground he moved quickly, clamping her to the ground with his body. Ellie having seen this started to run back in an attempt to help Lyssa.

"Ellie!", Lorne shouted from the door that she had almost just left through. Ronon had contacted Lorne to let him know where they were.

Tyler, upon hearing Lorne's voice, looked up. He grabbed his gun from the floor and aimed towards Lorne and fired but Ellie who was running, got in the way and the bullet hit her.

She didn't feel the pain at first, she just felt the warm, sticky blood oozing down her side.

"Ellie!" Lorne screamed behind her.

Tyler was a little shocked.

He hadn't been aiming for Ellie, she'd ran in to the line of fire.

But that wouldn't mean anything to Lorne so as Ellie began to stagger and was about to fall, Tyler stood and grabbed her and pulled her back towards the door that led back deeper into the unexplored parts of the city.

Lyssa tried to follow him but he shot out the door control causing the door to slam shut before she reached it.

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

Date : 19.09.2007

Title : Loves' Price of Freedom

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 5 of ?

Rating : M

Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Sheppard

Major Evan Lorne/Dr Ellie Lorne

Warnings : Romance/Angst/hurt.

Spoilers : This story is part of a series and follows on from Love's Past and Present.

Feedback : Yes

Disclaimer : Dr Ellie Lorne, Major James Reece, Lt Franks and any OC's are mine. Lyssa Hunter-Sheppard belongs to Kazavid. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.

**Summary : When a vengeful ex-member of Atlantis returns to the city, what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers?**

**Thanks to Kazavid for all her hard work and help with part of this chapter.**

Lorne ran toward Lyssa and the now closed door, his heart in his mouth as he shouted,

"What the hell went wrong?".

"I……I don't know…..", Lyssa replied obviously in shock at what she had just witnessed.

Ronon also moved closer as Lyssa booted the door in frustration and cried out in anger.

"From the looks of it Ellie isn't the only one that Tyler's injured", he said and Lorne and Lyssa looked at him sharply.

"What makes you say that?", Lyssa said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Ellie's hands had blood on them before he shot her and the hem of her dress was torn as though she'd used it to make a bandage or something", Ronon replied and Lorne cursed.

Lyssa turned away and closed her eyes, feeling sick at the thought that Sheppard and now Ellie could be dying as they stood in the corridor discussing things.

"We have to get to him", she said.

"Tell me something I don't know", Lorne grumbled as he moved past her and Ronon and headed back the way he had come, growling at McKay through his ear-piece, asking him had he figured anything out yet.

**OOoOO**

Sheppard's eyes widened as Tyler entered the room, all but carrying an obviously wounded Ellie.

The side of her dress was fast becoming soaked in blood and she looked pale and shaky.

"What the hell did you do?", he asked angrily as Tyler placed Ellie on the floor next to him and he scooted closer to her so that she could lean on him.

"It was an accident…..she got in the way. I was aiming for Lorne", Tyler said beginning to pace the room and Sheppard could tell that he was getting un-nerved by what was going on and the fact that his so-called plan was going awry.

Sheppard cursed and looked down at Ellie who was trying to press her hand against her side but it was obviously too painful and she gave up and just rested against him.

"Hang in there Ellie……Lorne will figure something out", he said and she nodded in response.

"How's Reece?", she managed and Sheppard sighed.

"He doesn't look so good".

"Would you just STOP talking to one another!", Tyler shouted as he rounded on them and Ellie pressed herself closer against Sheppard as he waved the P-90 around carelessly.

**OOoOO**

McKay stood as Lorne, Weir, Lyssa and Ronon entered the lab and he turned the lap top around so that they could see the screen as he announced triumphantly,

"I did it! Your wife isn't as smart as she looks", he said to Lorne who gave him a look that could kill and Rodney cleared his throat nervously before continuing,

"I found them…..they're in the un-explored South side of the city…..it has a direct route to the jumper bays and by the looks of what Ellie has been able to access so far, it also has a lot of consoles that I really could do with checking out".

"Good", Lorne said, then added, "I need you to disable the door locks to that entire section".

"All of it?", Rodney queried and Lorne nodded.

"That's what I said".

As Lorne liaised with various security teams over the comms, Lyssa watched and listened.

Suddenly Ronon placed a hand on her shoulder and she turned and looked at him.

"Sheppard will be okay", he told her and she forced a smile.

"Thanks Ronon, but we really don't know that do we?", she replied and Ronon sighed.

"No", he replied, glancing over at Lorne before continuing, "But if we all told ourselves anything different, what would be the point in carrying on?".

Lyssa nodded and took a deep breath as Weir turned to Lorne.

"I take it you have everything under control Major?", she asked and Lorne nodded.

"As much as I can ma'am", he replied and Weir smiled and placed a hand on his arm in a gesture of support.

**OOoOO**

"So what's your next move Tyler?", Sheppard asked as the ex-Lieutenant continued to pace the floor in front of him, Reece and Ellie.

"Shut up", Tyler snapped and Sheppard raised his eyebrows.

"Something wrong?", he asked casually and Ellie whimpered as Tyler crouched before them and shoved the end of the P-90 against Sheppard's forehead.

"I would love nothing more than to just snuff you out Sheppard", Tyler threatened and Sheppard laughed.

"So why don't you?", he challenged and Ellie squeezed her eyes closed as she prayed that Tyler didn't take Sheppard up on the challenge.

"Because then Lyssa would never forgive me and that's exactly what you'd want isn't it?", Tyler said standing again and Sheppard grinned, knowing he was getting to Tyler.

"Tyler why don't you just let us all go?", Ellie gasped and Tyler regarded her for a moment as though seriously considering what she'd said.

Suddenly he bent and pulled Ellie to her feet, the strain on her side causing her to cry out and Sheppard rolled onto his knees and followed her up.

He tackled Tyler, catching him off guard but Tyler had the advantage as Sheppard's hands were tied behind his back.

Without thinking he fired the P-90, catching Sheppard in the shoulder.

Sheppard crashed backwards onto the floor and Ellie cried out in pain as Tyler grabbed her roughly around the waist and she tried to wriggle free to get to Sheppard but he lifted her off the ground and left the room with her.

"Tyler, please, you have to stop this", she begged breathlessly, tears pouring from her eyes but Tyler ignored her and continued to leave an injured Sheppard and Reece behind.

**OOoOO**

Lorne and Lyssa lead the way toward the room that McKay was telling them that Reece and Sheppard were in and Lorne used hand signals to indicate to Lyssa and Ronon that they were to cover him as he opened the doors and then they stormed the room.

"John! Oh, my God!", Lyssa cried as she saw Sheppard lay on the floor, a pool of blood beneath his shoulder and she raced toward him and knelt by his side.

Ronon moved to Reece and checked him over.

"We need Beckett here", he called over and Lorne nodded and put the call in.

"Colonel? Where's Tyler and Ellie?", Lorne said as he knelt on Sheppard's other side.

"Major", Sheppard replied, snuggling his head further into Lyssa's lap as he continued on without making much sense,

"Did you know that Ellie had a thing about you before the night the Wraiths were controlling you?", he slurred and Lorne frowned and glanced at Lyssa who shrugged.

"What Sir?", Lorne replied but Sheppard lost consciousness just as Beckett arrived and Lyssa smoothed his brow with her hand and kissed him as Beckett knelt nearby.

**oooo**

Lorne and the rest of them followed Tyler as closely as they could but with him being so unpredictable and still holding Ellie as hostage, it made things much harder.

"Ronon see if you can get ahead of him, it looks like he's heading for the jumper bay", Lorne said.

Ronon looked at Major Lorne and hesitated for a second. He thought about ignoring the order but this was not the time to let personal differences get in the way. Ellie needed everyone working together if they where to free her from Tyler.

"I'll let you know when I get there", he said before he took off down a side corridor.

Lorne sighed with relief. For a moment there he'd thought Ronon was about to disobey him.

"McKay, can you disable the roof doors so that Tyler can't get out that way?", he asked.

"Sure, but he can still use the Stargate", McKay informed him.

"Can't you lock it down or something, we can't afford to let this guy get away. He's already killed several people and if Ellie does or says anything to upset him he wouldn't hesitate to kill her", Lorne felt his stomach churning at the thought of how far Tyler had gone up to now.

"I can try but I can't promise you anything. I don't have enough time to lock everything down", McKay told him as he furiously tried to override the security protocols that where in place.

"Just do what you can...", Lorne told him as he approached the corridor that lead to the jumper bay and carefully looked down it before moving to walk along it.

Lyssa and a security guy moved ahead first and they were half way down the corridor when Tyler came out of one of the doors up ahead, Ellie still being used as a shield.

Lyssa turned and grabbed Lorne, knocking him to the ground as several bullets whizzed close by. The security guy grunted and fell to the ground, blood spreading out across the floor from a bullet wound to his shoulder.

"Medical emergency to jumper bay 4 corridor", Lyssa spoke into her comms.

"That son of a bitch..." , Lorne shouted as he moved towards his security officer.

"You'll be alright, just hold on", he said as the guy grimaced with the pain of his injury.

"I'll be fine... go get Tyler...", the guy told Lorne.

Lorne looked at Lyssa before talking into his comms.

"Where's that medical team?", he asked.

"We'll be there in 30 seconds Sir", came the response.

"Well hurry up!", Lorne barked back.

"Just go Sir. If he gets away.…", the guy told Lorne again who nodded.

"Come on", Lorne said to Lyssa as he stood.

They had just reached the end of the corridor when they heard the sound of gunfire and Ronon's blaster.

As they reached the doors to the jumper bay they saw Tyler, his gun held to Ellie's head and Ronon had his blaster pointed right at Tyler.

"Ronon", Lorne said, his tone warning him to be careful of how unstable Tyler was.

Ronon never took his eyes off Tyler, his anger and adrenaline were running in high gear.

"Let her go", he bit out.

"Oh sure", Tyler laughed. "Like I'm really gonna let her go so that you can kill me".

"Nobody is going to kill you, not if you let Ellie go", Lorne said trying to sound sincere, while truthfully he was just aching to take a shot at Tyler for everything he'd done, for everyone he'd killed or hurt.

He couldn't take his eyes off Ellie, she looked like she was in a lot of pain and her clothes were covered in blood.

Tyler looked at Lorne, trying to weigh up his chances, it was only then that he realised that Lyssa was behind the Major.

"I want everyone out of here…….NOW!", Tyler shouted and pressed the gun more firmly against Ellie's head.

Nobody moved, they just stayed exactly where they were.

"If you don't start moving, she's dead", Tyler shouted, his eyes flaring with anger.

Ellie whimpered and her eyes locked with Lorne's as she silently told him to do as Tyler demanded.

Lyssa started to pull back and moved closer to the door...

"Not you", Tyler shouted at her when he saw her moving away.

"You stay here", he told her.

When Lyssa stopped he stared at her.

"You do want me to let Ellie go don't you?", he asked.

"Yes", Lyssa replied.

"Then if you do as I ask, I'll release her".

Ronon reluctantly moved out the door as did Lorne, who glanced at Lyssa, his eyes begging her to do something to get Ellie away from this maniac.

"Close the doors", Tyler shouted at Lyssa.

She pressed the button and the doors closed, cutting them off from Ronon and Lorne.

Tyler backed up in to one of the jumpers and he reached inside a storage box. He pulled out some restraints and he threw them over to Lyssa.

"Put those on your ankles and wrists", he told her.

"Let Ellie go first", Lyssa said.

"No negotiating. Do as I say or...", he trailed off, the threat unmistakable.

Lyssa sat on the floor and put the restraints on her ankles.

"And make sure they're tight", he bit out.

She put the restraints on her wrists as best she could and sat there, her hands behind her back.

"Okay, you said you'd let Ellie go, so let her go", Lyssa reminded him.

Tyler laughed as he pushed Ellie down to the floor of the jumper then moved towards Lyssa and dragged her into the back of the jumper. He closed the back doors up and sat in the pilots seat.

"Bastard, can't you see she needs medical attention?" , Lyssa shouted at him, but he just laughed and ignored her.

Tyler started the ship up and manoeuvred it towards the Stargate, where he dialled an address and took the jumper through the wormhole.

"McKay, what's happening?", Lorne shouted into his comms.

"Tyler just left through the gate", McKay replied edgily.

"Didn't you lock it down?", Lorne asked, cursing.

"No, I didn't have time to lock it down, I was still in the process of doing it. I did tell you this...", McKay ranted.

"Just tell me you got the address?", Lorne pleaded.

"Yes I got the address", McKay responded and Ronon and Lorne exchanged a relieved glance.

"Good. Now get yourself ready, we're going after him and you're coming with us", Lorne told McKay.

"What!?", McKay shouted in a high pitched voice. "Why do you need me there, he's a maniac, you need well armed security guys, not me".

"Just get ready McKay, you're coming with us and that's final. We may need your expertise", Lorne told him and Ronon raised his eyebrows as they heard McKay cursing.

McKay stomped out of the Gate room and headed for the equipment locker, muttering about maniacs and marines and how they deserved each other as they were all crazy.

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

Date : 20.09.2007

Title : Loves' Price of Freedom

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 6 of ?

Rating : M

Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Sheppard

Major Evan Lorne/Dr Ellie Lorne

Warnings : Romance/Angst/hurt.

Spoilers : This story is part of a series and follows on from Love's Past and Present.

Feedback : Yes

Disclaimer : Dr Ellie Lorne, Major James Reece, Lt Franks and any OC's are mine. Lyssa Hunter-Sheppard belongs to Kazavid. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.

**Summary : When a vengeful ex-member of Atlantis returns to the city, what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers?**

**Thanks to Kazavid for all her hard work and for working on most of this Chapter for me.**

In the back of the jumper, Lyssa moved up closer to Ellie as best she could.

"Hey, how are you doing?", she asked.

"Not so good... ", Ellie replied quietly.

"Well Lorne and the others will be doing all they can to find us, which I'm sure will be soon. Lorne is not going to want to let Tyler get too far away with you", Lyssa replied and Ellie forced a shaky smile to her lips at Lyssa's efforts to reassure her.

"How's John and Major Reece?", she asked.

"They were doing alright when I left them. They were stable and Beckett seemed to have everything under control", Lyssa replied, hoping that everything stayed that way.

Tyler bit out a curse as the Jumper was suddenly hit by something.

"See, I told you they'd find us", Lyssa said to Ellie as the jumper shook again as another volley of energy blasts hit it.

The Jumper started to falter and Tyler had to put it down, but not before he'd returned fire and damaged Lorne's Puddle Jumper.

"Come on, move!", Tyler bit out as he dragged Ellie up off the floor and then proceeded to hoist Lyssa over his shoulder.

"If you untied my feet I could walk", Lyssa offered.

"Sure and you're really going to use your feet to walk on aren't you, I mean you wouldn't dream of kicking me would you?" he said sarcastically.

Lyssa remained silent, confirming Tyler's suspicions and he shook his head.

"No chance sweetheart, you forget I trained with you, I know exactly how good you are at using your feet to disable someone".

They exited the jumper and moved toward some trees.

Lyssa clenched her jaw and wondered how on earth she was going to get out of this. She looked at Ellie who was having trouble staying upright.

They'd only gone a short distance when Ellie fell down, exhausted and in pain.

Tyler looked at her and realised that she was slowing him down and to be honest, now that he had Lyssa he really didn't need her any more.

"Why don't you wait here for your husband", Tyler told Ellie, causing her to look up at him and wonder if he was planning on doing something. Maybe he was laying a trap for Lorne and the others.

She watched as Tyler took off still holding Lyssa across his shoulder but she didn't have the energy to protest and they got further away.

"You can't just leave her alone, what if something attacks her? She's covered in blood and any predatory animals in the area will scent her and come out looking for food", Lyssa bit out.

"That's not my problem, Major Lorne will have to deal with that", Tyler replied, trying to sound like he didn't care.

"You used to be so nice, what happened to you?", Lyssa asked, wondering what had gone wrong with him.

"You chose Sheppard over me, that's what happened", he told her harshly.

"Did you really think I could choose you over John?", Lyssa asked incredulously.

"Shut up", he snarled, he couldn't stand hearing her talk about Sheppard.

Lyssa realised quickly that he didn't like her talking about John, so now she knew how to get to him, maybe she could use it to give her an advantage somehow.

**OOoOO**

"What about the jumper, I should stay here and repair it..." , McKay told Lorne, desperate for something to keep him from having to go with the Major and Ronon after Tyler.

"You can fix it later, I need you with us, just in case", Lorne told him,

"Now get moving".

"Fine, but if I take a bullet, it will be your fault", Rodney moaned.

"Sure McKay, everything is my fault", Lorne muttered, his mind still on Ellie and how she was doing.

They hadn't been walking long when Ronon suddenly motioned to Lorne and pointed up ahead. Lorne could see something further along and he told McKay to stay back whilst he and Ronon advanced forward.

Lorne saw the pale blue dress and knew it was Ellie. He started to run towards her but was tackled by Ronon, who knocked him to the ground.

"Don't be stupid, it could be a trap", Ronon told him.

"But it's Ellie", Lorne said in response, his military training deserting him in his desperation to see if his wife was alright or not.

"Don't you think I know that?", Ronon glared at the Major who glanced back over to Ellie's un-moving form.

Ronon quickly checked over the area and found nothing.

"Ellie...", Lorne ran over and began checking her over.

Her pulse was weak, but at least she still had one.

"Ellie, come on, open your eyes for me", he cajoled her, his heart beating hard in his chest, his emotions all over the place as he tried not to think of how badly she was hurt.

"Is she alive?", McKay asked as he stood over Lorne.

"Yes she's alive", he answered him stiffly as he applied a dressing to the bullet wound on her side. On closer inspection it looked like a pretty straight forward wound with an entry and an exit point and it didn't look like it had hit anything major, so Lorne was thankful for that at least, but she'd lost a lot of blood which wasn't helping.

"You want me to go after Lyssa?", Ronon asked. He knew that Lorne would probably want to stay with Ellie, he would of.

"Evan?...What?... Where's Lyssa?", Ellie awoke and tried to sit up.

"Shush, don't move...", Lorne told her, leaning down to kiss her.

"But where's Lyssa... did you get Tyler…?" , she asked looking around as much as she could.

"No we haven't got Tyler yet, we only just found you", he replied, his hands keeping her flat on the ground.

"You have to stop Tyler because if Lyssa doesn't do what he wants he's crazy enough to kill her", Ellie told him weakly, knowing that Lorne was reluctant to leave her.

Lorne was acting C/O with Sheppard out of it and in the infirmary and although he would dearly love to stay with Ellie, he knew it was up to him to go after Tyler.

"Major?", Ronon prompted him.

"I'm coming", Lorne told him.

"You'll be alright with McKay?" Lorne asked her.

"Of course I will", Ellie smiled as Lorne bent over her and held her close as he kissed her.

"I love you", he whispered to her.

"I love you too", Ellie told him. "Now hurry, before Lyssa gets Tyler all riled up".

"McKay, you make sure she's alright or I'll shoot you myself when I get back", Lorne told the nervous looking Doctor and then left with Ronon to find Tyler.

"Charming. I'm glad its you that's on his team and not me", Rodney muttered as he crouched by Ellie's side.

**OoOoO**

Tyler was getting tired carrying Lyssa so he tossed her onto the ground. Lyssa moaned as her arm and head banged against the ground. She closed her eyes and pretended to be dazed, but Tyler wasn't having any of it.

"I'm going to cut the ties on your ankles, if you try anything it will be the last thing you do", he told her.

Lyssa glared at him and decided to wait for the best time to strike. He cut the ties on her ankles and then dragged her up. He continued dragging her along a pathway but then he moved onto some rocky ground.

Tyler moved towards a small opening which turned out to be a cave with long winding passages. The ground was all rock which would make it more difficult for Ronon to track them. Lyssa grimaced and tried to scuff her feet along the rock, trying to leave marks that Ronon would be able to see but Tyler noticed and dragged her closer to his side.

"I can easily tie your ankles up again", he told her.

"No need for that, I'll stop what I was doing", she told him. At least she had some hope of doing something with her feet untied.

After walking for a while longer, Lyssa began to get fed up with waiting for an opportunity to escape so she decided to see if she could force something.

"Why do you want me?", she asked Tyler.

"You belong to me", was his only answer.

"Since when?", Lyssa laughed.

"Since the day I first saw you", he replied.

"You really believe that?" , she asked as she took in his serious expression.

"Yes and if you hadn't gone back to Sheppard, we would have been together and been happy", he answered.

"I don't think so", Lyssa said and Tyler shrugged.

"You're just confused at the moment, but you'll come around", he told her.

"Come around to what?" , she asked.

"To loving me", Tyler said looking at her and Lyssa regarded him.

"You think I could love you after what you've done?", she asked and he nodded.

"Yes and you'll soon forget about Sheppard" .

"Oh sure. Look, the day I forget about John will be the day I die", Lyssa told him and saw his back stiffen.

He obviously didn't like that.

He turned around to face her, his eyes dark and full of anger.

"I'll make you forget him", he told her harshly.

Lyssa could see his control was wavering and she wasn't sure what he'd do so she decided to take the chance and kicked out at him.

He was so worked up that he hadn't been concentrating and her kick knocked him down. Lyssa turned and ran but she didn't know which way they had come so she had to just run blindly down any passageway that she came to.

She ducked into a crevice in the rock pulling her body back, hoping that he'd run right past her.

She could hear him and waited for him to pass, which he did at speed. As soon as she thought he'd gotten far enough down the passageway she quietly moved back the way she had come from. She was hoping to find the way out, but all the passages looked the same.

She heard a noise behind her and turned to see Tyler right behind her. She didn't have a chance to do anything as he grabbed her. She couldn't kick out as he was too close.

They went crashing to the ground where Tyler clamped his legs across hers. Lyssa couldn't move, her hands were tied behind her back and Tyler was resting his weight across her thighs.

They were both breathing heavily and Lyssa knew that she was in real trouble when Tyler grabbed his knife and rested it against her neck.

"Let's see if I can make you forget about Sheppard now", he said his eyes looking over her face and moving down over her body.

He put the knife against the neck of her T-shirt and then slid it down the front of her body, cutting the fabric from top to bottom. He flicked the material apart with the tip of the knife, exposing her breasts.

Lyssa struggled but with her hands tied behind her, getting free was going to be very difficult.

She heard Tyler groan just before he lowered his head down to her breasts.

He placed his mouth over her breast and drew the nipple in to his mouth. His hand moved to cover her other breast which he started to stroke and caress.

Lyssa cursed at him, but he didn't stop what he was doing. She didn't react and Tyler got a little angry. He grabbed her chin and kissed her fiercely.

"You enjoyed it the last time we made love. You begged me to take you", he said to her.

"The last time we 'had sex', I wasn't myself", Lyssa bit out, emphasizing the fact that she didn't think of what they'd done as making love.

When she still wouldn't respond to his caresses he bit in to her neck and marked her. Then he started dragging at her trousers, her continued lack of response was making him angrier still. He tried to get her to respond to him, but she wouldn't, she couldn't. His touch was just a violation that she couldn't do anything about.

Tyler eventually realised that he she wasn't going to respond to him how he wanted her to and he rolled to the side.

He fished in his coat pocket and produced a syringe, the sight of which made Lyssa's eyes widen and she tried to back up away from him along the floor.

"What the hell is that?", she asked, watching as Tyler tested the syringe and a line of clear liquid shot up into the air.

"It will make you feel a little better about things and then you can forget all about Sheppard. You may as well because he's probably dead by now anyway", he told her.

"John isn't dead, he's in the infirmary doing fine", she told him.

Tyler's patience suddenly snapped at this. He moved closer to her and jabbed the needle into her upper arm, making Lyssa wince.

Tyler watched as she suddenly began to relax and he smiled at her as she returned his stare but this time without the wariness in her eyes that he hated so much.

He leaned forward and kissed her, pleased when she slanted her mouth against his in a tentative way that was a far cry from her earlier nonchalant moves.

He pushed her backwards and Lyssa went without objection which only fuelled Tyler's desire to be one with her again.

It had been so long…….

He pushed a hand into her combats and groaned as his fingers found the edge of her panties.

"I have missed you so badly Lyssa…..you know you and I belong together don't you?", he said to her as he nuzzled his face into her neck and Lyssa made a moaning sound in response as she felt his fingers slip closer to her entrance.

Suddenly Tyler's weight was moved off of her as Lorne kicked him in the side and sent him flying across the cave.

Lorne tried to grab Lyssa but she was too drugged up to be able to move. He stood up quickly as Tyler picked himself up of the floor and came at him.

He grabbed Tyler and pulled him away from where Lyssa was. He bent Tyler over his outstretched leg and dropped him to the ground.

"Why can't you just leave us alone?", Tyler snarled, his anger focused on Lorne who was standing before him.

"Yeah, why can't you?" Lorne repeated Tyler's words, throwing them back at him.

Tyler stood up and punched out at Lorne. He connected with his shoulder and then he grabbed the back of Lorne's neck and dragged him in to a head lock. He pulled Lorne down intending to bring his knee up in to his face but Lorne grabbed Tyler's thigh and lifted him from the ground, causing Tyler to fall on to his back.

Lorne followed him down, pressing his weight across Tyler's chest.

They fought and rolled around the floor, trying to get the upper hand on each other but it was Lorne who managed to subdue Tyler first. He got Tyler's arm up his back and pressed his knee in to the middle of Tyler's back.

"Ronon I've got Tyler, but Lyssa needs some help", Lorne spoke into his comms.

"Is he…?", Ronon went to ask if Tyler was dead, but Lorne interrupted him.

"He's alive", he bit out, thinking that he didn't deserve to be, not after what he'd done.

"I should be there shortly", Ronon told him.

Just as Ronon finished speaking though, Tyler had managed to reach a knife he had stashed in his boot. He stuck it into Lorne's thigh, distracting Lorne, whose hold on Tyler loosened enough so that he could dislodge Lorne from his back.

Tyler stood up and turned to face Lorne, but Lorne had grabbed for his gun and was aiming at Tyler.

Tyler decided not to wait around and he just made it out of the entrance as Lorne fired at him.

"Damn it", Lorne cursed.

Tyler took off out of the caves' exit and headed back along the way he and Lyssa had come.

'Damn Lorne', he thought, 'Why couldn't he have understood how much he wanted to be with Lyssa?'

Obviously the Major didn't get how strongly he felt or he would have left him alone to get on with his plans with Lyssa.

As he ran, Tyler wondered whether Lorne had left Ellie alone out in the grass before the wooded area or if he'd moved her to his jumper.

A plan began to formulate in his mind as he got closer to where he had left Ellie to wait for Lorne earlier…….

**OOoOO**

"What happened?", Ronon asked as he passed Lorne and took in the blood coming from a wound on the Major's thigh.

"The bastard had a knife in his boot……Lyssa looks like she's been drugged, she's in there", and he pointed back toward a niche in the cave wall.

"I'm going after Tyler", he said beginning to move forward and Ronon watched him go….silently wishing the other man well for Ellie's sake.

Ronon moved closer to Lyssa and saw that her top was ripped and that her bare flesh was exposed. He took his coat off and wrapped it around her before untying her wrists.

"Come on", he said to her, wrapping an arm around her waist and lifting her easily against him. He carried her out of the cave, frowning as her head lolled back over his arm.

"McKay, Tyler's on the run and Lorne's following him so I'm gonna head back to you and Ellie", he said into his comms, his frown deepening when there was no response.

"Damn it McKay", he muttered, tightening his hold on Lyssa as he took off at a pace that would get him quickly back to where Rodney and Ellie were waiting.

**OoOoO**

Rodney stood as Tyler ran at them and he pointed his gun at the ex-Lieutenant.

"Do you suppose this is a part of Lorne's plan?", he muttered and Ellie groaned as she tried to sit up.

"Don't come any closer", Rodney warned timidly as Tyler stopped a few feet in front of them.

"Get out of my way McKay", he said pulling out a small hand-gun from a holster on his belt and shooting Rodney in the stomach without a second thought to his action.

Ellie could only watch as Rodney fell unconscious beside her and Tyler advanced upon her with an evil glint in his eyes.

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

Date : 21.09.2007

Title : Loves' Price of Freedom

Author : ElaineDex

Chapter : 7 of 7

Rating : M

Pairings : Lt. Col. John Sheppard/Lyssa Sheppard

Major Evan Lorne/Dr Ellie Lorne

Warnings : Romance/Angst/hurt. Some Strong Language.

Spoilers : This story is part of a series and follows on from Love's Past and Present.

Feedback : Yes

Disclaimer : Dr Ellie Lorne, Major James Reece, Lt Franks and any OC's are mine. Lyssa Hunter-Sheppard belongs to Kazavid. Stargate Atlantis, unfortunately, has nothing to do with me.

**Summary : When a vengeful ex-member of Atlantis returns to the city, what has Lyssa got to do to ensure the safety of Sheppard and her friends before freedom from a deadly obsession is finally hers?**

**Thanks to Kaz again for her input with this chapter.**

Ellie stared at Tyler in horror as he smirked at Rodney's fallen form.

"I never did like him…..he always had too much to say", Tyler said and Ellie flinched as he turned and pointed his gun at her head.

"What the hell is wrong with you?", she asked, her voice shaky as Tyler angled his head as though seriously thinking about her question.

"What's wrong with me?", he repeated calmly and Ellie nodded, then jumped as Tyler shouted,

"What's wrong with me is that people keep fucking up my plans for my new life with Lyssa! Why can't you all just leave me to it and stay the fuck away from me?" and he knelt and rested the end of the gun against her temple.

Ellie closed her eyes as Tyler whispered to her,

"I really thought Lorne would understand but I guess I'm just gonna have to teach him a lesson in how it feels to lose………..", he trailed off as a shot rang out and Ellie screamed in shock.

The gun at her temple fell away from Tyler's hand and Ellie opened her eyes to see Tyler looking at her, confusion clear in his dark, brooding eyes.

Ellie clamped a hand across her mouth as he slumped to the side.

"Tell Lyssa……..", he gasped, his hand reaching out and gripping her leg, "Tell Lyssa………".

"We'll tell Lyssa that you're dead…….that's the only thing she'll be interested in hearing about you", Lorne said, moving to stand over Tyler.

Tyler coughed and nodded his head in response to Lorne's words.

Slowly he moved his hand from Ellie's leg but then went to snatch his gun up off the grass and Ellie watched as her husband aimed his P-90 and fired one last time.

After a few seconds of seemingly endless silence, Ellie looked from Lorne to Rodney.

"Evan, check Rodney…….is he……is he dead?", she asked fearfully as Ronon, carrying Lyssa, appeared on the horizon.

Lorne crouched by McKay's side, frowning when he could see no blood.

Suddenly Rodney sat bolt upright and Lorne jumped and sat back on his haunches as the Doctor groaned and began feeling his own stomach and chest area.

"Jeez McKay, you almost gave me a heart attack", he said.

"Rodney! I thought you were dead", Ellie cried as Rodney produced what looked like a baking tray from the inside of his jacket, the bullet Tyler had fired at him lodged in the centre.

"I would have been if it wasn't for my little friend here", Rodney replied holding the tray aloft and then rubbing his sore stomach and moaning loudly.

"Couldn't you have worn a bullet-proof vest like a normal person?", Lorne asked as he moved closer to Ellie and checked her side just as Ronon and a still out of it Lyssa joined them.

"Is she okay?", Ellie asked and Ronon shrugged.

"He drugged her but I don't know what with……is he dead?", he replied looking at Tyler.

"Yeah, he's dead. Come on….let's get back to the jumper, Ellie and Lyssa need to be in the infirmary", Lorne answered, scooping Ellie up into his arms.

As they made their way back to the jumper Rodney muttered to Lorne,

"I knew I'd get shot…….I did warn you".

"Yeah you warned me…..and I take full responsibility", Lorne replied rolling his eyes as Rodney continued to whine about how he shouldn't be placed in such dangerous positions, being a key member of Sheppard's team and all and how he now had to fix the damaged jumper with a sore stomach…….

**OoOoO**

As soon as Sheppard spotted Ronon carrying an unconscious looking Lyssa into the infirmary he tried to get off of the bed that Beckett had him lying on.

"Colonel, please stay where you are", Beckett tried to advise, "You know you won't do your shoulder any favours……", he trailed off as Sheppard managed to get up and head over to where Ronon was placing Lyssa on another infirmary bed.

"Is she alright? What did that bastard do to my wife?", Sheppard asked as Ronon moved to one side to let him through.

Lorne placed Ellie on the bed next to Lyssa and turned to Sheppard.

"We think Tyler drugged Lyssa", he said and Sheppard's face contorted with anger as he looked down at Lyssa and realised that under Ronon's coat, her top was ripped and her combats were undone. He also noticed the bite mark on her neck.

"What did he do to her?", he said, his temper barely contained and Ronon laid a hand on his friend's good shoulder as he said,

"Lorne got to them before Tyler had a chance to do anything to her. Sheppard, she's alright, she's just out of it".

Sheppard tore his eyes away from Lyssa and glanced at Ronon, letting his words sink in before he nodded slowly and looked at Lorne.

"Thank you", he said quietly and Lorne nodded in response.

"Where is Tyler now?", Sheppard asked as Beckett moved forward and began to usher them all back.

"He's dead Sir", Lorne replied and Sheppard looked back at Lyssa thinking it was just as well.

Beckett issued orders to his nurses regarding getting some tests run on Lyssa and he began to check out Ellie's gun-shot wound.

A while later when Ellie was comfortable and Lorne's stab wound to his thigh had been sorted, Beckett moved over to check on Lyssa again, pointedly ignoring Rodney's moans about him having severe abdominal bruising.

"What do you think he used on her Doc?", Sheppard asked, his hand gripping Lyssa's as she lay motionless.

"I'm not sure Colonel. The results should be back soon, in fact I'll go and chase them up now", Beckett replied moving away just as Ronon re-joined Sheppard at the bedside.

"Still no change?", Ronon asked and Sheppard shook his head.

"You know………….I can handle me being hurt but when anything happens to her………..", he trailed off and Ronon sighed deeply, knowing what Sheppard meant.

Just then Beckett returned and they both looked at him expectantly.

"Right….well…..it looks like Tyler used a date rape drug on Lyssa called Rohypnol or Roofies as it's more commonly known", he informed them and Sheppard clenched his fists as Ronon asked,

"A date what drug?".

"A date rape drug……or that's what we refer to it as on earth. Men generally slip it into women's drinks when they want to…….and when the woman isn't willing and well……you understand I'm sure……", Beckett trailed off as both Ronon and Sheppard looked like they were about to commit murder.

"I don't know where Tyler managed to get his hands on a liquid version of it but the one he used also seems to have been a more advanced strain of the drug, a more fast acting version. If Major Lorne hadn't shown up when he had I'm afraid that Lyssa wouldn't have stood a chance at fighting Tyler off".

"Can you do anything for her?", Sheppard asked and Beckett shook his head.

"The amount he gave her will wear off, probably by the morning and it won't cause her any lasting damage. All we can do is keep her comfortable and wait for it to leave her system. I suggest you get some rest Colonel, help that shoulder of yours to heal".

Sheppard nodded and pressed his lips to Lyssa's forehead.

"I'll come by in the morning then", Ronon said turning to leave the infirmary and Sheppard nodded as he clambered onto the bed at Lyssa's side, pulling her close against him.

Beckett considered telling him to get into his own bed but didn't have the heart to.

He turned to go back to his office and sighed deeply as he saw Lorne and Ellie curled together on her infirmary bed and he muttered to himself about the place being more like a bloody hotel than an infirmary as he walked away.

**OoOoO**

Ellie had to stay in the infirmary for a week, Reece for three, but Beckett only kept Lyssa and Sheppard in the infirmary for two nights before releasing them both.

They attended a scheduled briefing with Weir, Caldwell, Lorne, Ronon and Rodney where it transpired that Tyler had escaped from Area 51 where he was being held and had managed to get on board the Daedalus without being detected.

A fact that Caldwell was none to pleased about and was in the process of carrying out a full scale investigation into how Tyler had managed to get by his crew so easily.

"So did he get the Rohypnol drug from Area 51 too?", Sheppard asked and Weir sighed,

"That is also being looked into Colonel and I can assure you that if it is then the people involved will be dealt with accordingly".

Sheppard nodded and gripped Lyssa's hand tightly under the table.

She looked back at him and frowned.

What had happened had seemed to really shake Sheppard up and she was worried about him.

After the briefing they headed back to their room.

"Are you okay?", she asked as Sheppard moved out onto their balcony and looked out over the ocean.

"Sure……it's just my shoulder", he lied and Lyssa sighed and stood behind him, wrapping her arms around him and laying her cheek against his good shoulder blade.

"John……I know you better than that…..what's bothering you?", she asked, her fingers caressing his abs as she waited for him to reply.

Suddenly he turned and gripped her face in his hands.

"I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you Lyss", he told her and she smiled at him.

"John…..", she began but his lips covered hers preventing any further talking.

Lyssa moaned as Sheppard moved his hands from her face, down over her shoulders, down her back and cupped her firm bottom, pulling her in tightly against him and as she wrapped her arms around his neck Sheppard could only think about giving her as much pleasure as he possibly could.

He wanted to erase any thoughts she may still have in her head about Tyler and how badly he could have hurt her not just physically but mentally too.

He didn't want her to associate them making love with anything Tyler might have had planned for her.

Lyssa's breasts were beginning to peak and strain against her vest top in silent invitation. What this man could do to her with just a kiss never failed to surprise her and her heart was fit to burst with love for him but as she pulled back to look into his eyes she saw that they were still full of worry.

"John….?", she said.

"I can't stand the thought of what he could have done to you Lyssa. He could have taken so much from us", he said and it was Lyssa's turn to grip his face in her hands and she pressed her mouth to his.

"But he didn't and he'll never have the chance to again", she told him and Sheppard looked at her before crushing her to him.

They moved over to the bed and lay together, Sheppard hovering over Lyssa, his hand moving up under her top to cup one breast in his palm.

Lyssa squirmed and pressed her face against his chest.

"Make love to me", she whispered, her voice husky with emotion. "Make everything right again".

Sheppard needed no further encouragement and he replaced his hand against her breast with his mouth, suckling her gently.

Lyssa speared her fingers into his floppy hair and arched her lower body against him.

They rid one another of their clothing and Lyssa paused when she saw the dressing on his shoulder, her fingers lightly brushing over the bandage.

She manoeuvred Sheppard onto his back and smiled when he said,

"I'm supposed to be making love to you not the other way around".

"You still are, I can't exactly do this by myself now can I?", she teased, rubbing herself along his length and Sheppard groaned as he said,

"Well…..actually……..".

"John Sheppard!", Lyssa replied in mock horror at his wicked suggestion and she bent to kiss his neck as she said sexily,

"I don't feel like going solo right now…..I want you….no…….I need you inside of me….nothing else will make me feel as good".

Sheppard gripped her hips and she raised herself up slightly as he positioned the tip of himself against her moist entrance.

Lyssa lowered her face to his and held his eyes as she slid her body down onto his hard length and they both moaned as the pleasure of them being joined once more washed over them.

Lyssa moved her body against Sheppard's, her skin heated by his caresses and she let her head fall back as he reached up and tweaked her nipples between his finger tips sending sparks flying to the pit of her stomach.

Sheppard watched Lyssa's mouth open as she moaned and he thrust upwards against her, loving how she reacted to everything he did to her.

Suddenly he reversed their positions, wanting her supple form beneath him.

"John….your shoulder", she gasped as he rested his weight on his good side and thrust against her again.

"Its just fine", he murmured, his mouth kissing her neck and Lyssa wrapped her legs around his waist, allowing him deeper access to her.

Just as Lyssa began to feel the beginnings of her orgasm, Sheppard slowed his thrusts and he rocked back and forth gently, prolonging the sensation for her and Lyssa gasped and panted against his neck as her climax finally came but seemed to last forever.

"Oh……John…..that's just……..amazing!", she sighed blissfully, then wrapped her arms around her husband as his body shuddered with his own relief and he spilled his seed into her, his teeth grazing her shoulder gently as he made a silent promise to them both that no-one would ever be able to destroy what they had….what they felt for one another.

"I love you Lyssa Sheppard", he told her fiercely and Lyssa hugged him close as she whispered,

"I love you too…..with all my heart John Sheppard".

**OoOoO**

Lorne was out on a security patrol when Ellie decided to have a clear out.

Each piece of baby clothing that she took from the box she held up and looked at it. She wondered if she should give it away or keep it for the next baby, that's if there would be a next baby. She wasn't so sure, but it was obvious how Evan felt otherwise he wouldn't have spent so much time with the pregnant Simone she thought.

"What are you doing?"

Ellie spun around, startled by Evan's voice.

He was standing just inside the room and she'd been so engrossed in her own thoughts that she hadn't even heard him enter their room.

"Ellie, what are you doing?" he asked again, moving further inside.

"I was just sorting through some ba.….clothes", she said, faltering over the word baby.

"Why?", he wanted to know, his eyes lingering on the tiny pink baby grow that she was scrunching in her hands.

"I don't know", she replied turning her face away from him, not really wanting to explain what she was doing.

"You're supposed to be resting", he told her.

"This isn't strenuous", she replied.

"No it's not strenuous, but it's obvious that it's upsetting you", Lorne said.

"Not that much, it's just that I keep thinking about...", Ellie didn't get to finish the sentence.

"Look Ellie, about Simone...", Lorne began.

"You don't have to explain anything, you already told me what you were doing. I should have trusted you enough to know that you would never have done anything with her", Ellie said but Lorne shook his head.

"That's just it, I didn't do anything with her and I never had any thoughts in my head like that. But... well lets just say, Simone, like you, had the wrong idea of why I was there".

"What do you mean?", Ellie asked.

"She had the idea that I was there because I... liked her," he grimaced. "Maybe I should have thought about how it would look to you, instead of flying off the handle like I did".

"It's not really your fault, you're just too nice a guy. You should say 'no' a bit more often instead of trying to help everyone", Ellie told him, smiling as he grimaced at her calling him a nice guy.

"Is that what I am, a 'nice guy'?", he asked.

"What's wrong with being called nice?" she asked.

"Makes me feel dull and boring", he answered, frowning at the thought.

"You? Dull and boring? Haven't you ever noticed how many women watch you when you enter a room?", Ellie laughed at the absurdity of his description of himself.

"No, I generally have my eyes focused on you", he admitted sheepishly and blushed.

"You're blushing, normally it's me doing that, not you", Ellie laughed again as she noticed his skin reddening.

"Yeah, well, I know how to make you blush", he told her as he came to stand over her. He reached down and pulled her up.

He pulled her into his embrace and kissed her, pulling her hips close to his hardening body and rubbing his erection against her.

"See what you do to me?" he told her, pulling his head back to see her skin flushing.

He smiled. He loved making her blush, she blushed at the slightest thing.

He picked her up and carried her the few feet to the bed where he placed her gently down on the mattress and lay down beside her.

Lorne remembered the last time they'd made love and how rough and harsh he'd been with her. He closed his eyes and snuggled his face against her shoulder.

"I'm sorry for the way I treated you the last time we made love", he grimaced at the words 'made love' because he didn't remember being very loving at the time. He'd been angry with her and had taken his anger out on her, he'd been pretty rough with her.

"I understand you were angry about what I thought you'd been up to...", Ellie said.

"Yeah but that's no excuse for the way I treated you. You're my wife and I love you, I should never have...", he pulled her closer and kissed her.

"I hurt you and I'm sorry. I promise I'll never deliberately hurt you like that again", he told her, his eyes full of despair and self loathing.

"Will you forgive me for the way I treated you?", he asked her.

"Yes, I forgive you... but... next time, talk to me", she told him.

"So much for me being a 'nice guy'".

"Evan…….the last time we made love, you didn't hurt me", Ellie said then she felt herself blushing again.

"You were a little forceful and a little angry but I.…." , she trailed off.

"But you what?", he asked, prompting her.

"I enjoyed it...", she whispered.

"What hurt me was the way you left me alone afterwards, I just wanted to hold my husband, but you left".

Lorne groaned and pulled her closer.

"I love you. I'm sorry I left, I was just angry with everything and I thought you'd hate me for the way I treated you".

"Evan, I love you, I could never hate you", she told him, "Now, you did say you wanted to make love to me didn't you?" Ellie said, desperate for him to touch her.

"I'll always want to make love to you", he said fiercely.

He reached for the drawer at the side of the bed, meaning to get a condom and put it on the table for when he needed it. They didn't always use protection but if it was available they usually did.

"You don't need that", Ellie told him.

"Are you sure?", he frowned at her.

"Yes, you want a baby don't you?", Ellie asked.

"Of course I do……", Lorne replied.

"Then leave it".

There was something in Ellie's tone that alerted Lorne to the fact that something was still bothering her. He had an inkling as to what it was.

"You still think my going to help Simone was because she was pregnant, don't you?", he said.

"No", Ellie said, but lowered her eyes so he couldn't see them.

Evan groaned, "Ellie honey, me helping Simone had nothing to do with you not being pregnant and of course I want a baby with you, but I want you to want it too"

"I do", she told him but he continued on,

"I don't care when you get pregnant, or even if you get pregnant, just as long as we're together, that's all that matters".

"I really do love you", Ellie cried as the tears trickled down her cheeks.

Lorne laughed as he kissed the tears away, "I love you too Mrs Lorne, now shut up while I make love to you".

He stroked his hand over her stomach and gripped her hip but Ellie winced as his grip came a little too close to her side.

"Sorry, honey, did I hurt you?", Lorne lifted his head up to look at her to make sure she was alright.

"I'm fine", she told him.

"How am I gonna make love to you without hurting you?", he groaned.

"Slowly", Ellie whispered in his ear.

Lorne moved until he was sitting up. He took his clothes off and then he gently removed Ellie's dress and her underwear.

His eyes were drawn to the dressing that covered her side. A few inches the other way and he could have lost her.

He laid on his side and pulled Ellie closer to him but when she went to turn on her side to face him he stopped her.

"No sweetheart, you stay where you are and let me do this", he told her.

He moved up close to her side and he lifted her leg and rested it over his hip.

He began stroking his fingers against her causing her to gasp with the delicious sensations he was creating within her. He slid down a fraction and then gently positioned his erection against her, easing his length inside of her.

Ellie gasped.

"You alright?", he asked her, stopping his penetration of her.

"Oh, yes, wonderful", Ellie groaned and squirmed as he then continued to press in a little further.

He took things very slowly and very gently, all the time worried that he would hurt her side. He kept asking her if she was okay and she kept assuring him that she was fine.

Lorne had his hand on her thigh whilst he rocked his hips against her. He could feel her muscles tightening along his shaft as he stroked back and forth. Ellie turned her head to the side and placed a kiss against his muscled chest. He moved his head and pressed his mouth over hers in a very sensual kiss that left Ellie breathless.

He caressed her breasts, his hand gliding over the soft fleshy mounds and he gently squeezed the hard buds between his thumb and finger and Ellie squirmed her body as the pleasure intensified.

Lorne shifted his body so that he could reach her breasts with his mouth, all the time rocking his hips in a slow gentle rhythm.

Moving his hand down he began stoking his fingers over her, where their bodies were joined. He stroked, caressed and teased her until she was sobbing for more.

He smiled, then groaned as he increased the speed and depth of his thrusts.

Ellie could feel that spiralling effect in her stomach rising in an ever increasing focus of pleasure which cumulated between her thighs. She cried out as the pleasure burst forth, her stomach fluttering and jerking.

Lorne still didn't stop but kept thrusting against her, his own climax was spiralling out of control, he moaned as his body tensed and he felt himself releasing his seed inside of her. He held her tightly and told her how much he loved her, how much he cherished her.

When their bodies had stopped trembling, he eased his body from hers and snuggled against her, holding her in a tight embrace.

"Can I ask you something?", he said, stroking his hand over her stomach.

"What is it?", Ellie murmured, feeling sleepy.

"Sheppard said something...when we found him... I was just wondering about it", he said.

Ellie suddenly found herself wide awake as she listened to what Lorne was saying.

"He said you had a thing for me before the Ancient Wraiths took over us".

Ellie didn't know what to say, so she kept quiet.

"Ellie! What was he talking about?" Lorne asked, nudging her slightly because her eyes were closed.

"Where did Sheppard get such an idea?", he asked.

"He, er... I...", Ellie muttered.

"Is there something you want to tell me?", he asked, laughing when he saw her face flush bright red.

"Alright... I told him I had a thing for you before we were taken over by the Wraiths".

"You did?", Lorne asked.

"Yes, Tyler wanted to know...", she tried to explain, but Lorne butted in.

"You had a thing for me before then?", he asked, grinning.

"Yes, but I would never have done anything about it. I was married to Ronon and I intended to stay married to him. It was only when the Wraith took over us and... well you know what happened", she said.

"I sure do, I remember it like it was yesterday", Lorne told her.

"Well afterwards, when we went back to Earth and we... you know...we..."

"We certainly did", Lorne laughed because she was getting all flustered, trying to explain.

"Stop laughing at me", Ellie told him which only made him laugh even more so she dug her elbow in to his chest.

"Ouch!", he grunted, laughing as she glared at him. "What was that for?".

"I said stop laughing at me".

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing because I'm so happy", he said.

"You are?", Ellie asked.

"Of course, who wouldn't be, finding out that some gorgeous woman had the hots for him".

"I didn't have the 'hots' for you...", Ellie said indignantly.

Lorne raised his eyebrows as he looked at her.

"Alright……..so I had the hots for you", she admitted eventually as he continued to stare at her.

"Wanna know something?", he asked teasingly and Ellie looked at him.

"What?", she asked cautiously.

"I had the hots for you too", he whispered in her ear.

"You did? But you never said……I mean I never knew…..I…..", she began but Lorne smiled.

"Shush now", he told her, kissing her before she could start asking any questions.

The End

The Series Will Continue With My Next Story...Loves Moment of Truth


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